OXFORD, Miss. — William
Faulkners fiction is at the center of a rare ecological study during
this years Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference, July 20-24, at the
University of Mississippi.

“Faulkner and the Ecology of the South”
examines the relationships between the natural and constructed environments
in the Nobel laureates fictional worlds. The 30th annual conference
offers a novel look at Yoknapatawpha, the imaginary setting for many of Faulkners
stories and novels, and “its vast system of relationships,” said
Donald Kartiganer, conference director and UMs Howry Professor of Faulkner
Studies.

“We just havent looked at Yoknapatawpha
in that way,” he said. “Faulkners world is deeply concerned
with both the green and brown worlds, the natural
and the built worlds, and the conversation between them. The current
study of ecology also concerns relationships within and between human communities,
and Faulkner has created several such communities.

“They range from townspeople of Jefferson
to the country people of Frenchmans Bend, and also include the distinct
African-American and Native-American groups,” Kartiganer said. “They
are all part of the Yoknapatawpha world, part of a rich dynamic of peoples
and environments.”

Since its creation in 1974, the Faulkner and
Yoknapatawpha Conference has drawn scholars from throughout the world. It
is one of the longest-running U.S. literary events focusing on the works of
one author. Sponsored by the UM Department of English and Center for the Study
of Southern Culture, the conference is coordinated by the Center for Non-Credit
Education.

Kartiganer and nine other literary scholars
and critics from across the United States and Europe are slated to lecture
and lead discussions.

“No matter the angle of the approach,
Faulkners work seems to rise to meet it, as the world of his fiction
proves to be even more spacious and inclusive than we had imagined,”
Kartiganer said.

Before July 1, conference registration fee
is $150 for students, $250 for Friends of the Center and $275 for all other
participants. Cost does not cover lodging, optional tours and meals. Fees
increase by $25 after July 1. Only students can register for single conference
sessions. On-site registration July 20 begins at 10 a.m. in UMs Yerby
Conference Center, with the opening program at 2:30 p.m. in Paul B. Johnson
Commons ballroom. Lectures are in the ballroom.

Seven scholars appearing at the conference
for the first time are Ann Fisher-Wirth, literary critic, poet and UM professor
of English; Eric Gary Anderson, associate professor of English at Oklahoma
State University; Keith Marshall, computer graphics designer, art historian
and classical music critic for The Times-Picayune newspaper in New
Orleans; Mikko Saikku of the University of Helsinki, Finland; Scott Slovic,
professor of literature and environment, and director of the Center for Environmental
Arts and Humanities at the University of Nevada-Reno; Cecelia Tichi, the William
R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English at Vanderbilt University; and Michael Wainwright,
a doctoral candidate at the Royal Holloway Department of English, University
of London.

Returning lecturers include Thomas McHaney,
the Kenneth M. England Professor of Southern Literature at Georgia State University.
He is the author or editor of seven books about Faulkner, as well as 10 volumes
of the “William Faulkner Manuscripts” series.

Also returning is François Pitavy,
professor emeritus of American literature at the University of Burgundy in
Dijon, France. He is the author of several volumes on Southern literature
and Faulkner, including William Faulkners Light in August: A Critical
Casebook and, most recently, Le Bruit et la Fureur de William Faulkner.

Philip Weinstein, the Alexander Griswold Cummins
Professor of English at Swarthmore College, also returns. He is the author
of four books, including Faulkners Subject: A Cosmos No One Owns
and What Else But Love? The Ordeal of Race in Faulkner and Morrison,
and editor of The Cambridge Companion to William Faulkner.

Other conference events include a reading
by novelist and former UM Grisham writer-in-residence Tom Franklin, author
of the forthcoming book Hell at the Breech, and discussions by Faulkner
friends and family. Also planned are sessions on “Teaching Faulkner,”
directed by James Carothers of the University of Kansas, Robert
Hamblin of Southeast Missouri State University, Arlie Herron of the University
of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Charles Peek of the University of Nebraska
at Kearney.

Faulkner books, manuscripts, photographs and
memorabilia are to be on exhibit at UMs John Davis Williams Library.
Seth Berner, a well-known collector of Faulkneriana, is to conduct a special
session about collecting Faulkner.

A conference highlight on July 20 is announcement
of the winner of the 14th Faux Faulkner Contest, which draws writers who try
to produce, according to the rules, “one really good page of really
bad Faulkner parody.” Coordinated by the authors niece, Dean
Faulkner Wells, the contest is sponsored by Hemispheres magazine/United
Airlines, Yoknapatawpha Press and UM.

Other Oxford-area events for registrants include
a Sunday buffet supper at historic Isom Place, open-mike night dubbed “Faulkner
on the Fringe” at Southside Gallery, guided day tours of northeast Mississippi,
a picnic at Faulkners Rowan Oak and a closing party Thursday afternoon
at Square Books.

Films relating to Faulkners life and
work are scheduled to be available for viewing during the week. “Red
Hills to Gulf Shores: Autographics,” an exhibition of photographs by
Todd Bertolaet, is on display in the Gammill Gallery at Barnard Observatory
on campus, and the illustrations of Thomas B. Allen are to be exhibited at
University Museums.

For more information, assistance related to
a disability or to register for the conference, contact the Center for Non-Credit
Education at 662-915-7283 or go to www.outreach.olemiss.edu/events/faulkner/.
The center also can be contacted at P.O. Box 879, University of Mississippi,
University, MS 38677-1848 or by e-mail at noncred@olemiss.edu.

Other information on Lafayette/Yoknapatawpha
County, Miss., is available through the Oxford Tourism Council at 800-758-9177.